Two teenage boys killed in a Tustin garage fire over the weekend were identified Wednesday by the Orange County coroner's office. David Finnerty, 14, and David Grant, 16, both of Tustin, died early Sunday when the garage in which they were apparently sleeping caught fire and burned. The cause of the fire in the 16500 block of Lorelei Lane is under investigation, police officials said.

Jane A. Russo has been named superintendent of Orange County's largest school district, Santa Ana Unified officials announced Tuesday. Russo, who has served as interim superintendent since August, will oversee the 53,000-student school district with a budget of $453 million. She replaces Al Mijares, who was superintendent for 12 years before leaving last year to join the College Board, which publishes the SAT test.

Facing declining enrollment, which means less money for Orange County's largest school district, Santa Ana Unified will eliminate 60 teaching positions and cut $15 million from its upcoming budget, according to the district. Santa Ana has cut $58 million from its budgets since 2004. "The last few years, we've hacked. The effort has always been to keep it out of the classroom," said district spokeswoman Susan Brandt. This year "we may wind up getting to things like the music and arts program.

Candidates for an open seat on the Santa Ana Unified School District board must file an application with the district by Jan. 5. The seat was vacated when Sal Tinajero was elected to the City Council in November. The four remaining trustees will select an appointee to serve through December 2008. Applications are available at the district's public information office, 1601 E. Chestnut Ave., Santa Ana. Information: (714) 558-5555.

Jane Russo, a top city schools administrator, is now interim superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District, trustees announced Thursday. Russo, currently a deputy superintendent, takes over Aug. 1 from Supt. Al Mijares, who is ending a 12-year tenure to become vice president of the College Board's western region.

Some parents of students at a Santa Ana school say they are upset that authorities kept quiet about an apparent gang shooting adjacent to campus Wednesday, but instead briefed faculty members and told them not to divulge details unless asked. A suspected gang member was shot in the buttocks late Wednesday afternoon on the boundary of Spurgeon Intermediate School when school was out but students still mingled on the other side of campus.

Thousands of pro-immigrant protesters thronged Santa Ana on Monday, surging around the downtown Civic Center while a handful of counterprotesters stood on a corner shouting defiance. Only two arrests were reported. Officials said both were for failure to disperse after a flurry of rock and bottle throwing aimed at police. Santa Ana Police Sgt. Lorenzo Carrillo estimated there were 10,000 to 15,000 protesters, making it one of the largest demonstrations in Orange County in decades.

Facing sharply declining enrollment, Orange County's biggest school district will lay off as many as 100 teachers before the next school year as part of an effort to cut nearly $15 million, district and union officials said Thursday. The nearly 62,000-student Santa Ana Unified School District is facing the same problem decimating district budgets across the state. More than half of school districts statewide have declining enrollment, and fewer students means fewer state dollars.

When Kevin Sok, a forward on his Santa Ana high school's junior varsity basketball team, had his routine preseason physical, a doctor found an irregular heartbeat -- a potentially fatal abnormality that put the 16-year-old on the bench. Sok needed an expensive ultrasound examination, but his parents lacked health insurance. "I was thinking that I wasn't going to be able to play basketball again," said the Century High School junior. "It's my favorite sport."

Trustees in Orange County's largest school district approved a controversial health curriculum late Tuesday on the condition that a new textbook that pushes abstinence be supplemented with information that covers birth control alternatives. Sex education has long been a controversial issue in the Santa Ana Unified School District, located in a city where the teen birth rate is double the national average.